And another one.. George Burgess charged.

[Huge]

Go you good thing subsbligh ....! Like you I just cannot understand the unthinking,unreasoned belief that the ability to play a sport bestows on the better exponent some special powers ! It's only the first graders too as we never hear ' throw the book at him' about some guy who plays 8 divisions down who commits an identical offence. Kids regard these people as role models because the childrens parents regard them with such reverential awe. What most of the high and mighty fail to understand is that it is they themselves who raise these sports stars to rarified air. Most people who regard the sports star as some demigod do so because they live their life vicariously through these players . As a result of their jaundiced view of the player their ability to see them simply as a common person with all their faults and failings is seriously impaired. Hence the pain when their idol demonstrates the same frailty as all others.

 

[Huge]

James Tamou....fined 20,000 dollars by the NRL, dropped from Origin, cost 30,000 dollars, suspended from the NRL for 2matches, and still he hasn't even faced court ! So, a drink driving charge costs him well in excess of 50 grand while the guy just after him had a reading slightly MORE than his and he was fined 600 bucks ! The difference, well Tamou is a fairly useful rugby league player. The other bloke, well he was an average doctor, nowhere near as useful or important as JT ! What a stupid stupid world.

 

[Bull Shark]

Yep, just need to treat them like kids. Come down hard and consistent on any misbehaviour.

that's what they pretty much are ... Think back to all the childish shit you used to say and do when you were a kid at school playing touch footy at lunchtime or on weekends playing in your various sports teams (you probably even thought a lot of it was childish despite being a child at the time) ... NRL players have essentially never left that envionment ...

 

[Coxy]

Again, if either of you twits can find where someone in this thread has stated they expect footballers to be of a higher moral standing, please point it out.

I just think it's disgraceful that on one day you can have James Tamou driving unlicensed with a BAC 4 times the legal limit, and the next day trot him out in front of 100s of kids at a Cowboys fan day as a hero.

The older I get the less I respect or care about the players themselves...let's face it, most are douchebags and I'd never associate with people like them in my every day life. But like it or not, kids, and some adults, idolise them. And it's not just "James Tamou the footballer" it's "James Tamou".

My son idolises Usain Bolt. I make the point of saying admire what he does as a racer. Admire what he does with his training and his determination to be the best. But don't try to be like him. Because you're not him.

Unfortunately I think a lot of parents are as awestruck by players as their kids, and they put them on a pedestal. I certainly think that's moronic.

But the NRL (and AFL, cricket, soccer) is a publicity business. The players are representative of your brand. Do you want a drink driver representing your brand when you have an association with road safety initiatives? Do you want a bloke charged with indecent assault representing your brand when you have an association with programs against sexual violence?

No. So players being sacked for stuff like this I applaud. Being banned from Origin? Applaud. Act like a dick, you lose your privileges of representing the elite of the game. Fair enough.

The issue is what happens after they're sacked. I think it'll be a disgrace if Ferguson can turn up in a few months time (assuming he isn't convicted and jailed...) and play against Canberra. If a player is sacked for these types of reasons, the NRL should deregister them for 12 months minimum. If they go and play some other sport, so be it. Be it on their head.

If they want to go and play bush footy like Todd Carney did, good on them. Tough it out. Learn from it.

 

[nopatience101]

Go you good thing subsbligh ....! Like you I just cannot understand the unthinking,unreasoned belief that the ability to play a sport bestows on the better exponent some special powers ! It's only the first graders too as we never hear ' throw the book at him' about some guy who plays 8 divisions down who commits an identical offence. Kids regard these people as role models because the childrens parents regard them with such reverential awe. What most of the high and mighty fail to understand is that it is they themselves who raise these sports stars to rarified air. Most people who regard the sports star as some demigod do so because they live their life vicariously through these players . As a result of their jaundiced view of the player their ability to see them simply as a common person with all their faults and failings is seriously impaired. Hence the pain when their idol demonstrates the same frailty as all others.

There is a reason its called professional sport, and along with the money comes the expectation that the players act professionally. It has nothing to do with being considered, rightly or wrongly, role models, its about the capacity as adults to function at a standard required by a professional organisation. That capacity is not beyond 20-something-year-olds, if it were there would be a lot more of them unemployed. Your right though there is a double standard, if anyone employed by the NRL administration was charged with sexual assault or with throwing street signs through car windows they wouldn't be suspended or fined they would be sacked for failing to meet acceptable standards of behaviour expected by a professional organisation, and they don't have nearly as much to lose as professional athletes earning upwards of a million dollars annually.

 

[Coxy]

Richard Hinds nails it.
A seemingly endless story of league players behaving badly

We are reminded, by those who could turn an axe murder into a Wiggles song, that the NRL is a game of second chances. Too often, however, it is a game of chances spurned. Unless you can find a reasonable explanation why Josh Dugan would be drinking in a Cronulla nightclub with Ferguson. Not just the night before he was due in Origin camp. Ever.
Actually, I can. Dugan's punishment for his rooftop bender was a transfer to St George Illawarra where his talent trumped his recklessness. Where, in the instant it took Jarryd Hayne's hamstring to tear, Dugan was transformed from pineapple-cruiser-skolling miscreant to Blues hero. Which - as Todd Carney might have told him - is a metamorphosis that takes much longer.
The apologists will claim Dugan did no wrong. But by merely putting himself in the wrong place at the wrong time he revealed his rehabilitation was incomplete. That we again confused talent with remorse and contrition.
Under new chief executive David Smith, the NRL is cracking down. The strong penalties handed Tamou at Smith's insistence and Ferguson's immediate - if inevitable - removal from the NSW squad were further indications of a zero tolerance approach.
But Smith's integrity unity should be a body of last resort. The NRL will have egg smeared on its face until every club acts as strongly and decisively as the peak body.
It is the clubs where the players spend their time; where cultures are created and standards set; where the early warning signs are apparent and a critical decision is made - inflict punishment at the risk of affecting team performance, or cross your fingers, hope the problem child doesn't get into too much trouble and you get the points on Sunday.
Still, seemingly, too many clubs take the self-serving option. To bring them into line, the NRL has a powerful weapon - the abandonment of the fixed grant in favour of needs based funding. Something that can be tied, partly, to its behavioural record. Do you want that misbehaving prop forward or the money for the new high performance centre? You decide.
Not all clubs abrogate their responsibility. One has a rule that players are not allowed to associate with a sometimes troubled character from a rival code for fear he will lead them to something stronger than water. It is no coincidence this club has a terrific record of on-field achievement and of good - if not completely blemish free - citizenship.
Others are slowly changing their cultures. They recognise that the NRL's shoddy behavioural record not only retards the game's growth, but will inevitably inhibit their performance.
Significant power is with the players. Privately, the many wiser heads tell you they are sick of being tarred with the NRL's bad boy brush. Yet, in public, they are too quick to shoot the media messengers and too reluctant to condemn the fools.
It is time for the game's real leaders to stand up. To exert peer pressure. To name and shame. After all, they have nothing to lose but the mud that sticks to the entire game.

 

[john1420]

We can argue all day about whether or not the athletes should behave better due to publicity etc. but let's just agree(hopefully) on the simple point that pro athletes should behave differently because it's best for their health and therefore career

Pro athletes should not consume alcohol (during the season at least)

The Australian mentality that a good time cannot be had unless half cut is moronic of the highest order, but hey, if you wanna have a drink and your a postie or plumber or whatever else, I won't stop you

But if you are a pro athlete and on the drink, you seriously need a good old fashioned kick up the bum

 

[nopatience101]

The game is full of mixed messages and contradictions when it comes to alcohol, the NRL has education programs in the excess while the clubs and rep sides hold well publicised bonding sessions, beers are available in the locker rooms after a win in some instances, including the Broncos, clubs, teams and the code are sponsored by alcohol brands and then when players are caught up in alcohol related scandals the game scratches its collective head as to what the answer is. Until the code accepts its responsibility in the behaviour of its players nothing will ever improve, taking a stand is going to cost the code a lot of sponsorship money, not easy to come by, from these beer companies but then how much does it cost the code every time one of these scandals erupts, not just in monetary terms, but in participation and goodwill.

 

[Huge]

Not sure why you've resorted to name calling Coxy simply because I have a different opinion to you. I'm not a twit and I object to the name.

 

[Huge]

Richard Hind gets it wrong. He calls anyone who understands that a young guy, selected for an important game that is sometime in the future has a drink with a friend to celebrate the event ,is an apologist. Apologist for what exactly ? I've not heard that Dugan has done any wrong and I hardly think 10.30 pm on a Sunday is a bad time to have a drink. So what if he is going into camp the following day, he may have had only a couple of light beers.

As far as I know it is only an allegation something was done. Innocent until proven guilty but trying to drag Dugan into it is reprehensible . Muckraker. Rehabilitation indeed, Dugan has done precious little wrong and this muckraker is trying to imply Dugan had done wrong, ffs he hasn't ever been charged with any offence.

 

[Coxy]

Yeah, I'm sure Dugan and Ferguson just went out to a nightclub for a couple of light beers by 10.30pm...and that's why the night club refused entry.

Yes, apologist is a label that fits you very well indeed.

 

[Huge]

The nightclub refused entry....? So the alleged assault happened outside on the footpath...?

 

[Browny]

If you had read the reports you would know that he snuck back in via the kitchen and assaulted the lady

 

[Bucking Beads]

I'm not sure how hard on Burgess the game will be. His first misdemeanor I believe. A fine and a couple of weeks out of the game seems sufficient but he may get more due to the poor timing.

 

[Huge]

So Ferguson is the guilty party and Dugan has done no wrong, a point repeatedly emphasised in every report. So, like I wrote, Richard Hind is a muckraker trying to imply Dugan had done something wrong. Ferguson obviously has played up but as yet there has been no evidence revealed. I did see a mention of CCTV footage but that doesn't clarify things much. Might just be a case of some woman making things up. Even if it isn't ( likely it's true ) I will wait to condemn Ferguson on the evidence.

 

[Bucking Beads]

Dugan shouldn't have been out given his reputation and track record. Same goes with Ferguson who has been in trouble a number of times.

 

[subsbligh]

Dugan shouldn't have been out given his reputation and track record. Same goes with Ferguson who has been in trouble a number of times.

They are fucking deadshits that's for sure. Imagine Carney, Dugan and Ferguson in one squad.

Douche explosion.

 

[Kimlo]

So Ferguson is the guilty party and Dugan has done no wrong, a point repeatedly emphasised in every report. So, like I wrote, Richard Hind is a muckraker trying to imply Dugan had done something wrong. Ferguson obviously has played up but as yet there has been no evidence revealed. I did see a mention of CCTV footage but that doesn't clarify things much. Might just be a case of some woman making things up. Even if it isn't ( likely it's true ) I will wait to condemn Ferguson on the evidence.

Dugan HAS done something wrong, his employer told him he can't drink and he did so in a public place. Pretty stupid if you ask me.